Shares may tumble on weak global cues

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 59.50 points at the opening bell due to weak global cues.

Overseas, stocks in Asia fell on Friday after China's GDP growth for the third quarter of 2018 came in below expectations. Issues ranging from trade worries, Italy's 2019 budget and higher US interest rates also worried investors.

China's economic growth slowed to the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2009 as the country's trade war with the US puts pressure on growth, according to official data released on Friday. The world's second-largest economy said its economy grew 6.5% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2018. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China's economy grew 1.6%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

US stocks closed sharply lower Thursday, dogged by worries about global growth and as investors continued to weigh minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting, which were viewed as hawkish.

The minutes of the Fed's September meeting, released on Wednesday, indicated that policy makers are prepared to forge ahead with increases and will likely hike rates again as early as December, as expected.

On the data front, first-time jobless claims fell by 5,000 from a week ago, as the Labor Department reported just 210,000 Americans applying for initial jobless benefits in the week ending 13 October 2018, close to 49-year lows.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index came in slightly below last month's reading, with a print of 22.2 in October, compared with 22.9 in September. The Conference Board said its leading economic indicators rose 0.5% in September.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 140.02 crore on 17 October 2018, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 343.11 crore on 17 October 2018, as per provisional data.

Key equity benchmarks snapped their three-day gains and ended sharply lower amid high volatility. Selling in auto and financial stocks put pressure on bourses. The Sensex ended below the psychologically important 35,000 mark. The Sensex fell 382.90 points or 1.09% to settle at 34,779.58. The Nifty 50 index fell 131.70 points or 1.24% to settle at 10,453.05.

Domestic stock market was shut on Thursday, 18 October 2018, on account of Dussehra.

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